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This season of Fortnite has been quite experimental with its competitive scene. While the Fortnite Champion Series has been the premiere competitive event of the season, the Marvel Knockout LTM and 1v1 box fights both had their own tournaments scheduled for the season as well. Now, it appears that Arena Duos will be returning as a standard competitive format to play in Fortnite.
Competitive Fortnite, why duos are a welcome addition
Depending on how or why you play Fortnite, duos may make a lot of sense to you. If you prefer to play Fortnite exclusively with friends, or even just a specific friend, then it can make sense to stick to a version of the game that gives you a teammate.
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Of course, squads and trios have also had their turns as competitive Fortnite events. But duos will remain a welcome addition to the competitive Fortnite scene if only because of how the game’s dynamic shifts based on the number of players per team.
When playing with a squad of four, each team can have four guns firing at a target at once, and simultaneously have a massive stockpile of materials to build with. This shifts the average range of engagements much further back, and can sometimes result in players getting downed faster than players can react.
To some extent this applies to trios as well, as three players firing at a medium range is enough to deal over 200 damage in a fraction of a second. However, trios in Fortnite can’t quite cover as many angles as a full squad can. Trios do have enough people that they can divide roles, with two players on guns while a third focuses on building.
This dynamic shifts dramatically with duos. In duos, dedicating a single player to building effectively cuts down your potential damage output in half. Likewise, having both players firing at a single enemy can be a great way to focus down a target, but limits your ability to build and control space.
As a result, both players often have to fit both roles much more fluidly. This makes duos in Fortnite play more similarly to solos than to trios, with the added benefit of having a friend there with you.
Where to play Arena Duos in Fortnite
To play duos, simply check the main screen and click on the Arena Duos option. Keep in mind that on some servers the duo matchmaker gets removed if the server population is too low. This is because duos blurs the line between solos and the other game types enough that players could, in theory, simply play trios or anything else if they wanted.
As a result, if you’re a fan of duos like I am then you should definitely make use of its return to Fortnite now while you still can.
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